Remember the old WWII movie, Kelly's Heros" about Allied soldiers using the confusion of war to steal German gold? Well, the GAO has discovered that someone had the same idea about Iraq's oil. The Bush administration invaded Iraq for profit. First Paul Bremer and Co. made off with $9 billion of the Iraqis money.

Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq’s declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or smuggling, according to a draft American government report.

Using an average of $50 a barrel, the report said the discrepancy was valued at $5 million to $15 million daily.

The draft report, expected to be released within the next week, was prepared by the United States Government Accountability Office with the help of government energy analysts, and was provided to The New York Times by a separate government office that received a review copy. The accountability office declined to provide a copy or to discuss the draft.

Maybe they should check with the UN, as I read they were supposedly (the UN) in control of Iraq oil money for quite some time?

That is a much abused myth. In practicality, the UN was never in "control" of Iraq's oil. And, of course, they have not been involved in Iraq at all since the invasion. Most of the violations of UN sanctions were committed by US oil companies, who were buying Iraqi oil outside of the UN Oil for Food program. If US companies were involved in illicit purchases when the UN was supposedly in control of Iraq's oil, imagine what they are up to now that the Bush administration is in charge of Iraqi oil!

Report claims blind eye was turned to sanctions busting by American firms

The United States administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation.

A report released last night by Democratic staff on a Senate investigations committee presents documentary evidence that the Bush administration was made aware of illegal oil sales and kickbacks paid to the Saddam Hussein regime but did nothing to stop them.

The scale of the shipments involved dwarfs those previously alleged by the Senate committee against UN staff and European politicians like the British MP, George Galloway, and the former French minister, Charles Pasqua.

In fact, the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales.

A friend is telling me that China is going to need lots of oil and the oil cartel have plans to control and regulate the supply to China, regardless of their requirements. My friend thinks this could be a very dangerous game to play with China. He also said currencies come into play here and that China would like to rid itself of billions of US dollars, but can't get rid of them. The US seems to be slumping while China is very quickly becoming a massive (industrial / military) superpower. Will it come down to China verses the the cartel or cartels? This is something we don't hear much about - A pissed off China.

_________________You will know you have spoken the truth when you are angrily denounced; and you will know you have spoken both truly and well when you are visited by the thought police.

Few people in the US know much about the role of the Bush administration and US oil companies in the illegal sale of Iraqi oil before the war. The corporate owned US new media, which had a field day with Kofi Annan and the UN scandal seemed to think the fact that most of the illicit transactions occurred between US oil companies and Saddam Hussein with cover provided by the Bush administration was not worth reporting to the American public.

Note that the article I posted was printed in the UK Guardian. I also found articles on the subject from BBC and the Sydney Morning Herald, but I can't seem to find much about it in US news media. Too bad we have to read foreign newspapers to get the news about our own country.

I agree with your friend. Bush invaded Iraq so that the oil cartel could control the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world. I'm sure the exploding demand by China played a huge role in their decision to secure those reserves. I also agree that they are playing a very dangerous game with China, especially considering their huge cache of US dollars.

This reminds me of another reason for the Iraq invasion, which received almost no notice in the news media. In 2000, Saddam Hussein began trading oil in Euros rather than dollars. This, of course, was unacceptable to the incoming Bush administration, and made the neocon fanatics even more ravenous for Saddam's blood, and Iraq's oil.

Yes, it is sad we have to read foreign news to get something useful. Yup, I remember when Iraq switched to the Euro. What happens if China decides to offer protection for, or starts securing oil reserves for itself? It certainly could prove to be a dangerous game alright. My friend said we should "Keep an eye on the Spratly Islands in the south China sea. (He says) No one is going to get those regardless of claims without a fight. China keeps a very large military presence there and is frequently doing maneuvers around the Islands." Thanks for info Shoeless.

SI--

_________________You will know you have spoken the truth when you are angrily denounced; and you will know you have spoken both truly and well when you are visited by the thought police.

Members of Congress dem­anded on Tuesday that the Bush administration explain how billions of dollars of US taxpayers’ money had gone missing in Iraq in what they called a disastrous effort to rebuild the country.

“This is not the Marshall plan. This is a reconstruction programme conducted virtually under fire,” he said. The Iraqi government was financing the bulk of its reconstruction, he said, but had failed to fund the oil industry adequately or spend its budget on other infrastructure projects.

Members of Congress dem­anded on Tuesday that the Bush administration explain how billions of dollars of US taxpayers’ money had gone missing in Iraq in what they called a disastrous effort to rebuild the country.

Additionally, we have to consider the role of contractors, and companies such as Haliburton. Essentially, we have seen local people shut out of rebuilding their own companies, while large corporations receive no-bid contracts. There has been massive wast and fraud.

By the way, shoeless, here is an image that works quite well with the one you posted.